Need Help: Bad Cinematography

[Neville]

That's a tough question. From what I know, Director and cinematographer decide beforehand the look of the film and work together in framing / composition. The extent of the joint effort depends on the background of the director and his work method. It is known that Kubrick, a former photographer, clashed with DOP Lucien Ballard in "The killing". Kubrick would tell Ballard exactly what to do, to the extent of choosing the lenses and the lenght of focus himself, which alienated Ballard. But on the other hand, a director preferring to focus on the actors may leave all those decisions to the cinematographer.

As for Cundey & Carpenter, they certainly made a great team, but it's hard to tell whose merit it was. Carpenter has always had this peculiar way of framing and editing, it's so personal you can tell his movies apart from the rest within minutes, no matter who his colaborators are. Still, the color palette in his colaborations with Cundey is also very peculiar, it's more muted than in Carpenter's later work.